Cigar machine



Aug 28,' 1923.

F. M. HITE CIGAR MACHINE Filed March 16 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Aug. as; was.

FRANK MORGAN VJHI'IE, or HUNTINGTON, w srvIn-eI IA, assIeNos, BY D nner AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, Tor. QRILLARD COMPANY, A coaronarioNfor NEW- JERSEY,

CIGAR MAcHINE.

Application fi1ed Ma rch'18,-1920. Serial No. 366,299.

T0 all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, FRANK MORGAN WHiTE, a citizen of the United States, re-' siding at Huntington, in the county of Cabell and titate of West Virginia. have in vented certain new and useful Improvements'in Cigar lylachines, of which the following is a specification, reference being bad therein to the accompanying drawing.

My invention hasfor its object the remedying 0r elimination of certain objections which characterize the machines for making cigarettes or little cigars ofthe type'having a feed belt upon which the filleris deposited. On damp days the belt stretches and ouhot dry days it shrinks, causing light weight cigars in the former caseand heavy weight 'in the latter. When the belt stretches longitudinally it contracts transversely so that tobacco can wedge between it andthe sides of the hopper through which. it travels and thus the cigars have soft ends. In time thebelt becomes so stretched from use that it must be discarded, and this is expensive. Associated with this belt is a transfer or shuttle mechanism by which the filler is transferred to the roller apron for rolling and delivery to the wrapper. By my invention I eliminate the belt and the transfer devices both of which involve more or less complicated mechanisms that are costly to make and subject to wear and derangement, and certain of which are a source of danger to the operatives.

In the annexed drawings,

Fig l is'aside elevation of a little cigar machine embodyingmy invention;

2 is a side elevation of the filler feed mechanism detached;

Fig; 2 is a detail view of the short filler feed discharge end;

Fig. 3 is a detail view of a differentcon struction of short tiller feed;

Fig. 4t is a detail view of the funnel bot tom moving device.

Briefly described, my invention comprehends the'use of an automatically operated source of supplyo'l filler that delivers directly to the roller apron of the cigar machine, a measured quantity of filler. The formant]. arrangement of parts forming the i'nel'chanis m may bevaried. and it will therefore be understood thatthe particular c0nstruction and arrangement shown in the drawings'and which I am a iiout to describe in detail, is to be taken as 1ne1'e1y 'illustra' tive, and not restrictiveof my invention. 7

In the drawings, 10 designates the frame of a well-known little cigar machine that comprises a wrapper cutting mechanism 11, a traveling nozzle 12 that travels between the die of the cutting mechanism and the vacuum plate 13, a carriage or slide 14, and a rubber cigarrolling apron 15which by the travel of the slide in one direction, is caused to, roll filler placed thereon and to. deliver the same to the wrapper placed on the {vacuum plate by the nozzle. Asthe parts thus far described, and their actuating mechanism are'of well known construction, no further description of them is required.

Rigidly attached to and thus partaking of'the reciprocations of the carriage or slide is a funnel or hopper l6 whose lower discharge end is close to the apron 15.' An arm 17 on each side attaches the hopper to the slide. 1 I 1 Stationarily supported by the frame 10, as by arms 18 fastened thereto at their lower ends, is a hopper "for long filler tobacon and one for short fillertobacco from i which is a sprocket wheel 22 that is con nected by a. chain with a driving sprocket wheel on a shaft 24:. On the latter is a: ratchet wheel 25 engaged by teed dog 26 carried by a lever 27 pivoted to swing on the shaft 24.- and connected by a link 28 with the carriage 14, as hereafter explained. Vithin the hopper, and connected withthe shaft 241 so as: to rotate-therewith, is a roller or drum' 29 which. reaches from side to side of the hopper and is ('lOSG to the belt 20 at the lowest pointotthe latter. I (in the periphery of the drum 29 are numerous teeth 30 which may consist oi double pointed tacks inserted through a leather band 31 V which is fitted about the drum circumferencc, and the points of such teethjust clear t1 2 belt 20. as the drum. revolves, their time sufficiently close to the teeth of the drum 29 to take or comb off any excess tobacco on the drum 29 and permit only that caught by the teeth 30 thereof to remain on the drum 29., The two drums'are' geared to rotate together, by a sprocket chain 34 that connects a sprocket wheel 35 on the drum shaft with a sprocket wheel 86 on the shaft of drum 32. Above, and close to the drum 32 is a brush. roll 87, preferably of wood, with peripheral blades 38 of leather or other flexible material that serve to fan or brush back into the hopper, tobacco carried by'the teeth of the drum 32.

Lying close to the drum 29 is picker roll 39, with rows of teeth 40 on its periphery, which pick or strip from the adjacent drum teeth '30, the tobacco adhering to the latter and drop it, and to assure ameasured and exact quantity of tobacco being taken and delivered, I place a slotted plate or comb 41 against the" periphery of the drum 29, with its fingers lying between the circular rows of teeth 30 on such drum. The comb 41 extends at an incline upward and away from the drum, and is caused yieldingly to press against the latter by placing it on a pivot 42 and attaching to a crank arm 43 one end of a coil spring 44- whose otheend is at tached to a bracket 46 on the side wall of the hopper 19. The comb serves to hold back the tobacco so that only a measured amount reaches the teeth of the picker roll. The picker roll is revolved at a high speed, preferably 600 R. P. MT in the machine shown, and it is belted to the driving pulley 47 on its shaft 418. The brush roll is belted to the picker roll shaft by a belt 49 that connects a pulley 50 on its shaft with a pulley 51. on the pieker'roll shaft. 7

The hoppei '52 for short filler is placed adjacent the long filler hopper. At its bottom it has ahorizontal endless band or apron 53 that runs over a pair of rollers 54, one at each end of the hopper. Said band is similar to the clothing or covering of the upper drum 8'2. with its teeth inclined rear' ward of the direction of travel through the hopper so as to prevent the tobacco clinging to the teeth. At its forward or dlscharge end the hopper has a slide 56 that is adjust- In said spout, 60, is a downwardly inclined bottom 61 hinged at its highest j edge. and yieldingly held in a closed positionagainst a stop 62 at its opposite edge, by a coil spring 63 on its pivot shaft 6%. A radial finger 65 on said shaft is in the path of a trip dog 66. on the link 57 on the return travel of the carriage 14, and is engagedby said trip dog'just before the carriage completes its return movement, so as to discharge the filler tobacco from the spout to the funnel 16 below for delivery by the latter to the roller apron 15 in time for the neXt advance movement of the carriage.

The to and fro movements of the carriage effect the rocking of the two filler hopper ratchet levers. This is accomplished by en gaging the ratchet-lever-moving link 28 at one end with a slot 67 in a horizontal bar 68 fixedly secured to the carriage, and the other ratchet-moving link 57 with the slot of a similar bar fixed to the carriage. In;

each slot are two blocks 69 that respectively engage the appropriate link, when the carriage moves in one direction or the other and thereby the rocking motion of the ratchet lever is produced. Said blocks are adjustable so as to enable the stroke of the ratchet bar to be properly timed and its degree of movement varied, and thus the amount of tobacco for a cigar to be controlled, orregulated.

During the forward travel of the car riage, which results in rolling the tobacco and placing the roll on the wrapper on the vacuum plate, the nozzle 12 is moved to the die to pick up a wrapper forthe neXt cigar, and such forward travel produces thefeed of filler from the long and short filler hoppers and the dropping thereof to the pivoted bottom 61. On the reverse travel of the carriage, the nozzle is moved from the die with a wrapper, to the vacuum plate, and just before the rear limit of travel of the carriage is reached. the bottom 61 is swung down and the filler thereon is discharged to the funnel 16 and'thence to the roller apron.

The internal construction ofthe long and short filler feeds shown in Figs. land 2, is similar to what is shown in my pending application No. 299,493. The short filler feed however, as shown in Fig. 3, may have a construction essentially the same as the long filler feed, in that it has a spring-held comb plate 410 that coacts with the teeth of the apron 530, adrum 290 with teeth 300, that corresponds to the drum 2901f the long filler,

lil) a brush roll 370 that corresponds to the long filler feed brush roll 37 and a picker roll 390 that strips or picksv tobacco from the teeth of the apron 530. The drum 290 is'on a shaft 291, mounted in adjustable bearings to change the space between'the drum and the apron. I Y

By my invention, the greatly simplified, since I eliminate several hundred parts that are necessary, when the belt and its essential, associated parts are employed, and the efficiency of the machine is greatly promoted. The cigar machine 'may be provided with my invention merely and the meaning and scope of the appended.

claims is to be determined in the light of this statement.

' I claim: v p 7 1. Filler teed mechanism arranged for cooperation with a sn'iall-cigar machine in which a rolling apron is operated by a reciprocatingcarriage, said. mechanism com prising a. long-filler hopper, a short-filler hopper, a delivery mechanism for each hopper, operative eonnertions from said carriape to said delivery mechanisn'is, and means tor placing a measured supply ot ion; and short tiller delivered by said delivery mechanisms directly upon said rolling apron once in each operative cycle oi? the machine.

2. Filler feed mechanism arranged for cooperation with a small-cigar machine in which a rollingapron is connected to and operated by a re-ciprocatin carriage, said a short-filler hopper, a delivery mechanism for ca ch hopper. ratchet drive means for the delivery mechanisms, operative connections trom said carriage to said ratchetdrive means. and means tordirectinga measured supply of long and short tillerdelivered by said delivery mechanisms to said rolling apron once in each operative cycle or the machine.

1-3. Filler feed mechanism arranged for cooperation with a small-cigar machine in which a rolling apron is operated by a recip rocating carriage, said mechanism comprising a long filler hopper and a short iiller hopper arranged substantially above said cigar machine is 1 to direct the materi to the rollii mechanism comprising a long-filler hopper,

apron, delivery mechanism toreach hopper operatively connected with said carriage, means for collecting filler materials deliv ered from the hoppers, and means for discharging and directing the combined filler materials to the teed a'pron prior to its rolling action. 7

Filler feed mechanism arranged-tor tooperation with a smallcigarmachine in which a roliingnpron is connected to and operated by a reciprocating carriage, said mechanism comprising a long iiller hopper and a short fillerhopper arranged substantially above said apron, delivery mechanism for each hopper operativelyconnected with said carriage, means for collecting and tentporarily retaining filler materials delivered from the hoppers, and means for discharging] and directing the combined tiller mate rials to the feed apron prior to its rolling action. I

5. Filler feed mechanism arranged for operation with a small cigar machine in which a rolling apron is operated by are ciprocatinp; carriage, said mechanism comprising a long tiller hopper and a short filler hopper arranged substantially above said apron, delivery mechanism for each hopper operatively connected with said carriage,v a spout arranged to receive the long and short tiller delivered for one charge by said delivery mechanisms,a chute positionedbelow the spout when the carriage'is retracted to direct th tiller materials to he rolling, apron, and means acting near theend oi the retracting movement of the 'cz'irrian'e to deliver the tiller materials trout the spout to the chute. i

6. A small cigar, machine comp'risina av rolling apron, a reciprocating carriage connected to the apron, hoppers tm' two di'ti'cu enttiller materials. discharge means for the the materials, means actuated in the return movement of the carriage to move said niemher and discharge the materials. and means apron 7. A small cigar machine cmnprisinnj a rolling apron, a reciprocating; carriage con-- nectcd to the a 'iron, hoppers "For two ditlcn ent filler materials. discharge means tor the hoppers having; operative conncctums with FRANK MORGAN WI-Iirit. 

